The ruling ANC, in power since 1994, is favourite to win the national election despite corruption scandals
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Loaded: the moped delivery drivers of Hanoi – in pictures
From footballs to live fish, delivery mopeds piled high with unwieldy, unlikely goods are one of the Vietnamese capital’s most distinctive sights. As the city plans to ban motorbikes altogether, photographer Jon Enoch captured the drivers at work
Continue reading...Cyclone Fani hits India’s east coast – in pictures
A category 5 storm has torn through the Bay of Bengal, lashing beaches with rain and winds of up to 205km/h, affecting weather as far away as Mount Everest
Continue reading...The Vale do Amanhecer religious community in Brazil – in pictures
This eclectic community holds its most important ritual of the year on Labour Day to honour the mediums who communicate with good and bad spirits. The group combines a range of religious practices, including Christian and Hindu, with symbols borrowed from the Incas and Mayans, as well as a belief in extraterrestrial life and intergalactic travel. With some 600 temples throughout Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Japan, Bolivia, Uruguay and the US, the religious movement claims to have 800,000 members
Continue reading...Unrest in Caracas – in pictures
The Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó took to the streets with activist Leopoldo López and a small contingent of heavily armed soldiers early on Tuesday in a call for the military to rise up and oust the socialist leader, Nicolás Maduro. Events started when Guaidó appeared in an early morning video surrounded by heavily armed soldiers backed by armoured vehicles. Guaidó said soldiers who had taken to the streets were protecting Venezuela’s constitution. Information minister Jorge Rodríguez said on Twitter that Maduro’s government was confronting a small ‘coup attempt’ led by military ‘traitors’ backed by rightwing opponents
Continue reading...Dream weavers: the indigenous Ainu people of Japan – in pictures
The Ainu of Hokkaido in Japan were not officially recognised as an indigenous people until 2008. This recognition came after a long history of exclusion and assimilation that almost erased their society, language and culture. Photographer Laura Liverani collaborated with members of the Ainu for this exhibition called Coexistences: Portraits of Today’s Japan, showing at the The Japan Foundation, Sydney until 21 June.
Continue reading...The life and reign of Emperor Akihito – in pictures
After 30 years on the throne, Emperor Akihito is to abdicate on 30 April and his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, will officially accede on 1 May. The 85-year-old emperor is the first in two centuries to stand down. His reign began on 7 January 1989, following the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito
Continue reading...Paolo Di Paolo’s Italy in the 1950s and 60s – in pictures
The Paolo Di Paolo: Lost World exhibition presents more than 250 largely unseen images from the photographer’s archive. Di Paolo chronicled life in his country as an economic boom followed the destruction of the second world war. Although those were the years of la dolce vita he was an anti-paparazzo – he shunned the salacious and respected his subjects. The exhibition is at MAXXI in Rome until 30 June
Continue reading...High-density megacities: the photographs of Michael Wolf
Hong Kong-based photographer Michael Wolf is best known for Architecture of Density, which shows the city’s tower blocks as dramatic geometric abstractions, and Tokyo Compression, which captures rush hour on the Japanese capital’s subway. He died this week aged 64
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un in Russia – in pictures
The North Korean leader arrived in Russia by train on Wednesday, a day before his much-anticipated summit with President Vladimir Putin. He visited with diplomacy over his nuclear programme deadlocked. Kim is travelling to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok for a meeting with Putin on Thursday
Continue reading...Pearl farming in Japan – in pictures
Japan still dominates the global cultured pearl market, despite a fall in specialised pearl farmers. In the past 10 years it has produced annually about 20 tonnes of farmed pearls
Continue reading...Asia’s longest-fighting communist guerrillas – in pictures
The fight for communism is alive in the mountains of the Philippines, where the New People’s Army is celebrating 50 years since it took up arms. The armed wing of the Communist party of the Philippines is the oldest fighting communist guerrilla force in Asia
Continue reading...The New York Easter parade and Bonnet festival – in pictures
Celebrants donned festive finery and showed off their very best headgear on Fifth Avenue
Continue reading...Red dawn: the Sindoor Jatra festival in Nepal
Every year, Nepal becomes awash with vermillion powder as Hindus celebrate Sindoor Jatra to welcome the arrival of spring and Nepalese new year
Continue reading...Day of the Sun: North Korea marks Kim Il-sung’s birthday
Tens of thousands of North Koreans have turned out to pay tribute to their leaders. The most important day in the country’s ritual calendar, 15 April is called the Day of the Sun, the anniversary of the 1912 birth of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung
Continue reading...Sudan protesters celebrate end of Bashir’s rule – in pictures
Crowds took to the streets in Kashmir on Thursday, as the army said it had removed President Omar al-Bashir from power after 30 years in charge. We take a look at the best images from the capital, Khartoum
Continue reading...All the presidents’ busts – in pictures
Standing nearly 20 feet high, 43 US presidents’ busts, remnants from a bankrupted theme park, are stored in Croaker, Virginia, on the property of Howard Hankins who is seeking to restore the massive sculptures. Hankins has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to relocate the statues to a place where they can be visited by all
Continue reading...Dubrovnik, Game of Thrones and overtourism – in pictures
For Dubrovnik, doubling as King’s Landing in Game of Thrones is a mixed blessing. Stardom has been a boon for business – but has also sparked an inundation of visitors to a city already struggling with overcrowding
Continue reading...Branded a no-go zone: a trip inside the 93, France’s most notorious banlieue
It is seen as a lawless breeding ground for hooliganism and drug trafficking. But a photographer called Mister Happiness is on a mission to tell the real story about the demonised area
‘She put her pen down,” says Monsieur Bonheur, “and told me to stop dreaming.” The French photographer is recalling the day he told the careers advisor at his school that he wanted to study fashion design. “She said, ‘Your parents won’t have the money to pay for those schools. They won’t be able to pull strings. You should consider something more appropriate for a black kid from the 93, like fixing central heating systems.’”
There is still disbelief in Bonheur’s voice as he recounts this decade-old conversation. “She was reminding me of the codes,” he says, “advising me to play by the rules.”
Continue reading...Miami Beach in the early 90s – in pictures
From fashionistas and retirees, drag queens and bodybuilders, to waiters and wanderers, British photographer Barry Lewis captured the colourful characters of Miami Beach in the late 80s and early 90s in black and white on the cusp of its revival. After two decades of decline caused by drugs, corruption and violence the coastal strip had come back to life and the party was just getting started.
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